{"id":7928,"date":"2025-05-20T12:04:26","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T12:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=7928"},"modified":"2025-05-20T12:04:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T12:04:26","slug":"vancouver-tribunal-says-every-dog-is-entitled-to-one-bite-in-injury-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=7928","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver tribunal says &#8216;every dog is entitled to one bite&#8217; in injury case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>A woman who sought nearly $5,000 in damages after being bitten by a dog on Christmas Eve has had her claim dismissed, after a British Columbia tribunal ruled the incident amounted to an accident \u2014 and that \u201cevery dog is entitled to one bite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ying Shen was bitten on the hand by a mini Australian Shepherd named Juliet as she stepped out of an elevator in her apartment building in Vancouver on 24 December 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The dog, which was leashed and accompanied by neighbour Jeffrey Dale Polo, bit Shen as the two passed each other in the corridor.<\/p>\n<p>According to the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal\u2019s decision, Polo apologised, saying Juliet was \u201cusually well behaved.\u201d Shen sought medical attention that night at St. Paul\u2019s Hospital, where she was treated for a superficial abrasion and given a tetanus shot.<\/p>\n<p>She later filed a report with the City of Vancouver. A bylaw officer determined that Juliet was not considered dangerous under city regulations, though the dog was found to be unlicensed.<\/p>\n<p>In his 5 May ruling, tribunal member Peter Nyhuus explained that under B.C. law, a dog owner is liable for damages only if they knew \u2014 or reasonably should have known \u2014 their pet had a tendency to be aggressive.<\/p>\n<p>The common principle, Nyhuus noted, is that \u201cevery dog is entitled to one bite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no evidence that Juliet had ever bitten anyone before,\u201d Nyhuus wrote. \u201cHad she done so, it likely would have come to the attention of bylaw officers, especially as the dog was unlicensed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nyhuus also ruled Polo was not negligent, as he had the dog on a short leash and maintained control during the incident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile I sympathise with Miss Shen, I am bound to apply the law as it stands,\u201d he added. \u201cIn the eyes of the law, what happened on 24 December was essentially an accident that no one is to blame for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a result, Shen\u2019s $4,862.62 claim for medical costs and damages was denied.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A woman who sought nearly $5,000 in damages after being bitten by a dog on Christmas Eve has had her claim dismissed, after a British Columbia tribunal ruled the incident amounted to an accident \u2014 and that \u201cevery dog is entitled to one bite.\u201d Ying Shen was bitten on the hand by a mini Australian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}